H‑0352.1 _____________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 1131
_____________________________________________
State of Washington 57th Legislature 2001 Regular Session
By Representatives Mulliken, Dunshee, Edwards, G. Chandler, DeBolt, Dunn and Hatfield
Read first time 01/18/2001. Referred to Committee on Local Government & Housing.
_1 AN ACT Relating to public hospital districts; and amending RCW
_2 70.44.060.
_3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
_4 Sec. 1. RCW 70.44.060 and 1997 c 3 s 206 are each amended to read
_5 as follows:
_6 All public hospital districts organized under the provisions of
_7 this chapter shall have power:
_8 (1) To make a survey of existing hospital and other health care
_9 facilities within and without such district.
10 (2) To construct, condemn and purchase, purchase, acquire,
11 lease, add to, maintain, operate, develop and regulate, sell and
12 convey all lands, property, property rights, equipment, hospital
13 and other health care facilities and systems for the maintenance
14 of hospitals, buildings, structures, and any and all other
15 facilities, and to exercise the right of eminent domain to
16 effectuate the foregoing purposes or for the acquisition and
17 damaging of the same or property of any kind appurtenant thereto,
18 and such right of eminent domain shall be exercised and instituted
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_1 pursuant to a resolution of the commission and conducted in the
_2 same manner and by the same procedure as in or may be provided by
_3 law for the exercise of the power of eminent domain by
_4 incorporated cities and towns of the state of Washington in the
_5 acquisition of property rights: PROVIDED, That no public hospital
_6 district shall have the right of eminent domain and the power of
_7 condemnation against any health care facility.
_8 (3) To lease existing hospital and other health care facilities
_9 and equipment and/or other property used in connection therewith,
10 including ambulances, and to pay such rental therefor as the
11 commissioners shall deem proper; to provide hospital and other
12 health care services for residents of said district by facilities
13 located outside the boundaries of said district, by contract or in
14 any other manner said commissioners may deem expedient or
15 necessary under the existing conditions; and said hospital
16 district shall have the power to contract with other communities,
17 corporations, or individuals for the services provided by said
18 hospital district; and they may further receive in said hospitals
19 and other health care facilities and furnish proper and adequate
20 services to all persons not residents of said district at such
21 reasonable and fair compensation as may be considered proper:
22 PROVIDED, That it must at all times make adequate provision for
23 the needs of the district and residents of said district shall
24 have prior rights to the available hospital and other health care
25 facilities of said district, at rates set by the district
26 commissioners.
27 (4) For the purpose aforesaid, it shall be lawful for any
28 district so organized to take, condemn and purchase, lease, or
29 acquire, any and all property, and property rights, including
30 state and county lands, for any of the purposes aforesaid, and any
31 and all other facilities necessary or convenient, and in
32 connection with the construction, maintenance, and operation of
33 any such hospitals and other health care facilities, subject,
34 however, to the applicable limitations provided in subsection (2)
35 of this section.
36 (5) To contract indebtedness or borrow money for corporate
37 purposes on the credit of the corporation or the revenues of the
38 hospitals thereof, and the revenues of any other facilities or
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_1 services that the district is or hereafter may be authorized by
_2 law to provide, and to issue and sell: (a) Revenue bonds, revenue
_3 warrants, or other revenue obligations therefor payable solely out
_4 of a special fund or funds into which the district may pledge such
_5 amount of the revenues of the hospitals thereof, and the revenues
_6 of any other facilities or services that the district is or
_7 hereafter may be authorized by law to provide, to pay the same as
_8 the commissioners of the district may determine, such revenue
_9 bonds, warrants, or other obligations to be issued and sold in the
10 same manner and subject to the same provisions as provided for the
11 issuance of revenue bonds, warrants, or other obligations by
12 cities or towns under the Municipal Revenue Bond Act, chapter
13 35.41 RCW, as may hereafter be amended; (b) general obligation
14 bonds therefor in the manner and form as provided in RCW 70.44.110
15 and 70.44.130, as may hereafter be amended; or (c) interest-
16 bearing warrants to be drawn on a fund pending deposit in such
17 fund of money sufficient to redeem such warrants and to be issued
18 and paid in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as the
19 board of commissioners may deem to be in the best interest of the
20 district; and to assign or sell hospital accounts receivable, and
21 accounts receivable for the use of other facilities or services
22 that the district is or hereafter may be authorized by law to
23 provide, for collection with or without recourse. General
24 obligation bonds shall be issued and sold in accordance with
25 chapter 39.46 RCW. Revenue bonds, revenue warrants, or other
26 revenue obligations may be issued and sold in accordance with
27 chapter 39.46 RCW.
28 (6) To raise revenue by the levy of an annual tax on all
29 taxable property within such public hospital district not to
30 exceed fifty cents per thousand dollars of assessed value, and an
31 additional annual tax on all taxable property within such public
32 hospital district not to exceed twenty-five cents per thousand
33 dollars of assessed value, or such further amount as has been or
34 shall be authorized by a vote of the people. Although public
35 hospital districts are authorized to impose two separate regular
36 property tax levies, the levies shall be considered to be a single
37 levy for purposes of the limitation provided for in chapter 84.55
38 RCW. Public hospital districts are authorized to levy such a
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_1 general tax in excess of their regular property taxes when
_2 authorized so to do at a special election conducted in accordance
_3 with and subject to all of the requirements of the Constitution
_4 and the laws of the state of Washington now in force or hereafter
_5 enacted governing the limitation of tax levies. The said board of
_6 district commissioners is authorized and empowered to call a
_7 special election for the purpose of submitting to the qualified
_8 voters of the hospital district a proposition or propositions to
_9 levy taxes in excess of its regular property taxes. The
10 superintendent shall prepare a proposed budget of the contemplated
11 financial transactions for the ensuing year and file the same in
12 the records of the commission on or before the first ((Monday
in
13 September)) day of November. Notice of
the filing of said proposed
14 budget and the date and place of hearing on the same shall be
15 published for at least two consecutive weeks, at least one time
16 each week, in a newspaper printed and of general circulation in
17 said county. On or before the ((first Monday
in October)) fifteenth
18 day of November the commission shall hold a public hearing on said
19 proposed budget at which any taxpayer may appear and be heard
20 against the whole or any part of the proposed budget. Upon the
21 conclusion of said hearing, the commission shall, by resolution,
22 adopt the budget as finally determined and fix the final amount of
23 expenditures for the ensuing year. Taxes levied by the commission
24 shall be certified to and collected by the proper county officer
25 of the county in which such public hospital district is located in
26 the same manner as is or may be provided by law for the
27 certification and collection of port district taxes. The commission
28 is authorized, prior to the receipt of taxes raised by levy, to
29 borrow money or issue warrants of the district in anticipation of
30 the revenue to be derived by such district from the levy of taxes
31 for the purpose of such district, and such warrants shall be
32 redeemed from the first money available from such taxes when
33 collected, and such warrants shall not exceed the anticipated
34 revenues of one year, and shall bear interest at a rate or rates
35 as authorized by the commission.
36 (7) To enter into any contract with the United States
37 government or any state, municipality, or other hospital district,
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_1 or any department of those governing bodies, for carrying out any
_2 of the powers authorized by this chapter.
_3 (8) To sue and be sued in any court of competent jurisdiction:
_4 PROVIDED, That all suits against the public hospital district
_5 shall be brought in the county in which the public hospital
_6 district is located.
_7 (9) To pay actual necessary travel expenses and living expenses
_8 incurred while in travel status for (a) qualified physicians who
_9 are candidates for medical staff positions, and (b) other
10 qualified persons who are candidates for superintendent or other
11 managerial and technical positions, when the district finds that
12 hospitals or other health care facilities owned and operated by it
13 are not adequately staffed and determines that personal interviews
14 with said candidates to be held in the district are necessary or
15 desirable for the adequate staffing of said facilities.
16 (10) To make contracts, employ superintendents, attorneys, and
17 other technical or professional assistants and all other
18 employees; to make contracts with private or public institutions
19 for employee retirement programs; to print and publish information
20 or literature; and to do all other things necessary to carry out
21 the provisions of this chapter.
‑‑‑ END ‑‑‑
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